Jason Momoa reportedly fought to keep Amber Heard in Aquaman 2

If you’re just now tuning into the slow-motion train crash that is the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation case, here’s some quick background: Depp and Heard divorced in 2016. In 2018, Heard wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post where she talked about her experience with domestic violence. She didn’t mention Depp by name, but he later sued her for defamation, asking for $50 million in damages. She countersued for $100 million, arguing that her career has been hurt by Depp’s team accusing her of perpetrating an “abuse hoax.”

Depp and Heard are both trying to prove two things: 1) That the claims the other person is making about them are false, and; 2) That those false claims hurt their career. Depp has already put on his case. Heard is putting on hers now. Kathryn Arnold, who describes herself as an “entertainment industry consultant,” took the stand on Heard’s behalf to talk about how the rhetoric from Depp’s team has harmed her career.

Per TheWrap, Arnold pointed to research showing that whenever Heard’s name was mentioned in the media, there was immediate backlash from fans on social media, something that’s very easy to believe if you spend all of three seconds on Twitter, where Heard is pilloried on the daily. As a result of all this stuff, Heard’s role as Meera in the upcoming movie Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has been cut down. “Ms. Heard was not invited to be either in the poster or to be at the [FanDome] event, and, in fact, they told her she cannot come,” Arnold said.

"In February 2021, there were conversations that Amber’s…option for employment was not going to be exercised. So they may not have hired her again. Her management team fought very hard and they ultimately ended up hiring her, but not only because of what her management did, but also because star Jason Momoa and director James Wan committed to her."

Momoa, of course, plays Aquaman in the Aquaman movies, so it helps to have him in your corner. Per The A.V. Club, Arnold said that both he and Wan were “adamant” that Heard remain in the film despite Warner Bros. wanting to edit her out over the controversy.

The Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial ends this week

So far as Depp goes, Arnold testified that Heard’s 2018 op-ed wasn’t hurting him much at all…until he drew attention to it with a lawsuit. “Every time he has filed a lawsuit it has brought to light various issues with respect to whatever that lawsuit was about… whether it was about erratic behavior, or domestic abuse, or drugs and alcohol and even spending habits,” she said.

This is the final week of the Depp-Heard trial, thank merciful Jesus.

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